Weekend of Saturday 16th August 2008
Well, we feel like we've just about been everywhere!! On Saturday we visited the 4 different Zones of the Hume Highway that Hume Alliance is currently working on. There's quite a bit of work going on.
Of course a Saturday isn't complete without a visit to the Bakery, so here's Bruce outside the Holbrook Bakery. It was so nice we visited again on the way back, tee hee. Bruce has a pie, and I usually have a salad sandwich. I succumbed and had half a sausage roll as well.
The Holbrook region was originally inhabited by the Wiradjuri people, when in 1824 Hume and Hovell passed through the district naming it Friday Mount.

The first European settler was a convict named John Purcell from the County of Limerick in Ireland, who settled just east of the present town in 1836. The area was then known as Ten Mile Creek, as it was 10 miles from Father Therry's cattle yards on Yarra Yarra on the main Sydney road.

In 1839 Johann Chirstoff Pabst, a German immigrant who had married Ellen Scott 'a respectable free Irish immigrant' took over the management of the Woolpack Inn, then know as the Criterion Hotel. During this time the town became know as Germanton, althought it was not gazetted as such until 1876, nine years after Pabst's death.

Pabst had been engaged by the Australian Agricultural Company to look after Saxony sheep brought from Germany to boost Australia's sheet industry.

With the onset of World War I many of the town's people believed Germanton was an inappropriate name for the town. After hearing of the exploits of Lieutenant Norman Holbrook in the Dardanelles, they chose to commemorate his name and change the town's name to Holbrook. The first meeting of Holbrook Council was held on 24 August 1915.

Lieutenant Norman Douglas Holbrook
Norman Holbrook was born on 9 July 1888 of Southsea in Hampshire, England and died on 3 July 1976 at Midhurst in Sussex.

On 13 December 1914 then Lieutenant Holbrook had taken the British submarine HMS B11 on a hazardous journey into the Dardanelles to torpedo and sink the Turkish battleship Messudiyeh. This small and primitive submarine was powered by a petrol engine that limited her to six knots under water for only one hour. It was in this vessel that Holbrook and his crew braved minefields, surface patrol and Turkish artillery. The B11, with a shattered compass, scraped along the bottom on the channel literally feeling it's way out.

It was submerged for eight hours, unheard of in 1914, with all crew surviving the mission. It was then that Lieutenant Holbrook was hailed as the most daring underwater raider, and was awarded the first Victoria Cross of the war, as well as being the first submariner ever to receive a Victoria Cross.

Commander Holbrook made several visits to Holbrook before his death in 1976, and in 1982 his widow, Mrs Gundula Holbrook donated his medals to the town.

So, what else is in Holbrook? A submarine, that's what!!
Most first time visitors to Holbrook are surprised to see a 90 metre long decommissioned submarine in a park alongside the Hume Highway.

In 1986 Holbrook Shire Council maintained the naval connection with the adoption of the Royal Australian Navy Submarine Squadron.

In 1995 the Navy gifted the fin of the decommissioned HMAS OTWAY to Holbrook, and a working party was formed to try and obtain more of the submarine. Local funds were raised, and generously supplemented by a $100,000 gift from Mrs Gundula Holbrook. This allowed the outer skin to the water line of the submarine to be purchased and installed in Germanton Park.

There continues to be a strong connection between Holbrook and submariners that is recognised world wide, with a number of submariners retiring to Holbrook.

Submariners War Memorial in Holbrook


Some photos taken at a Lookout on the way to Tumut. Why do lookouts have overgrown trees so you can't look out??????

All Saints Church at Tumut

What a wonderful looking church, I just had to get out of the car and have a look around. Amazingly the back door was open so we could go in and sit. It sure has the old world charm and a huge pipe organ. The serenity of these places is inspiring, with the sun shining through the stained glass. We were there just at the right time.

Out the front of the church is a little alcove with a pew on either side, along with a stone commemorating the building but it's very well worn and hard to photograph. You can also pick up a church newsletter here as well.

All Saints is an elegant country Anglican Church which is of architectural significance for its fine combination of Gothic and Romanesque styling. The building has added importance for having been designed by the leading ecclesiastical architect, Edmund Blacket.

The church possesses a landmark spire and is a notable element in the Tumut townscape.
All Saints Church, Tumut, is an elegant church designed by the eminent colonial ecclesiastical architect, Edmund Blacket. Blacket did the drawings in early 1875 and the foundation stone was laid on 28 December of that year. Frederick Kinred was the builder and the first part of All Saints was opened on All Saints Day 1876. The tower and spire, a gift of C D Bardwell, was completed in 1882 and it is a landmark in the Tumut townscape. All Saints is one of the rarer brick churches designed by Blacket. Well sited on a slight rise and with mature trees standing close by on the riverside, All Saints is built of mellow brown bricks and has a roof clad with asbestos cement shingles. The church is cruciform in shape and has two vestries, and it reflects both Gothic and Romanesque influences (the former being particularly pronounced). Gothic features include the steeply pitched gabled roof, the buttresses, the square tower surmounted by tall broached spire, and the pointed arch lych gate. Romanesque influence is seen in the round headed arches to windows and doors, and the round arched inset section in the end wall to the transept which also features a wheel window. There are stucco reveals to some openings. At the front is a fine brick fence. Near the church are the rectory and also a newer house.

Early in the 1980s moves were made to restore the church. Since then conservation work has been undertaken, the main task having been the rectification of the pressure being exerted on the walls by the roof. (This was achieved by temporarily lifting the roof and bolting and bracing all the joints in the trusses.) In addition, other work was carried out, and the interior has been fully repainted.

It's not exactly the quietest church to walk about in. Lots of creaking in the floorboards and the pews.